Tuesday, June 29, 2010

I actually made this card a couple of weeks ago, but am just getting it posted in time by the skin of my teeth (which is a really odd expression, if you think about it; now I'm wondering about its origins). :-D Karen H. was hostess this month for the Pixies' challenge, and she gave us for inspiration this lovely set of fat quarters from which we were to take any aspect we chose: layout, colors, pattern(s), and so on. Since my favorite aspect of papercrafting is COLOR, that's what immediately came to my mind. To me, the colors I saw here were Raspberry Fizz, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Simply Chartreuse, and Smokey Shadow. Oh, and white of course. :-) So I made a simple card with pops of those colors. I used watermark ink and a tiny polka dot stamp on a swatch of each color, and then punched out flowers from the swatches (there's a big flower and a little flower if you look closely). I embossed the white on white panel with a polka dot embossing folder and attached the flowers to it with white brads. A Spellbinders label for the sentiment and some Orange Zest bitty dot ribbon and this card was done! Oh, and on the inside is the Smokey Shadow flower (didn't want you to think I'd forgotten it) and lots of room to write. Thanks for the fun challenge, Karen!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Nichole asked participants to put their color combo up top on their post, in BOLD. I wish I knew how to make those color thingies--you know, like paint samples. You know, I'd happily take a class on computer design for papercrafting blogs. I'd like to know how to make other things too, like a badge, and a banner, and . . . well, I'll have to look into that. Anyway, here is my favorite PTI color combo. I really don't know why it's my favorite, except that it makes me happy to use it. Pink is my favorite color, and I do reach for green more than any other color (except maybe blue) when papercrafting. I needed a get well card, and since my June PTI goodies didn't arrive in time for me to play with them, (sad face), I decided on a favorite, Dawn's Scattered Showers. I stamped the raindrops with watermark ink on the Ripe Avocado cardstock and the paper pieced the umbrella and popped it up on a nestie. Some more patterned paper, a popped up sentiment, ribbon and dew drops--oh, and I used my 2-Way Glue Pen and added glitter to the outside edge of the circle. I also shaded the circle, but it seems to be really hard to see in my picture. This will go out today to hopefully cheer up a friend. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! *** Before I go I want to make an exciting (for me, at least!) announcement: On July 1st, I will be posting my first ever challenge! It will be a month-long card challenge and there will be TWO prizes! We're talking PTI gift certs, people! :-D So tune back in next Thursday for the details, I'd love to have you join in!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

I kind of had an idea in my head for my dad's birthday card (his birthday is a week after Father's Day--I know, how'd he plan that?) and when I saw Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #78, I thought I'd turn it on its side . . . and square it up . . . and it would be a great layout for my idea! I had had the color combo of Enchanted Evening, Terracotta Tile, Spring Rain and Fresh Snow jotted down for a couple of months but hadn't tried it out yet. It seemed like a masculine color scheme so I thought this would be a good opportunity to use it. Firstly, I did a practice ink up of A Little Argyle since it was my first time using it. I don't know about you, but I had a feeling that for me there would be a Learning Curve with this set! I'm so glad I practiced first! (The dotted lines go inside the diamonds, the dotted lines go inside the diamonds, the dotted . . . well, you get it, LOL!) Once it "clicked" in my head, I made the little rectangle of argyle without incident. Whew! This was also my first time using the bicycle image from Everyday Button Bits, and in retrospect, I need to practice the "ground" shading a bit, but it'll do. My dad is a biker . . . um, cyclist . . . so I think he'll enjoy the image. An argyle Cuttlebug folder, some paper piercing (around the blue edge--hard to see), twine & a tag . . . I think that about does it. Thanks for looking!

HEC 37) Ted's challenge this month was to use one, two, or all three of the colors red, orange, or yellow. I knew I wanted to do orange, one of my favorite colors to craft with, but when I started pulling out papers and saw how well they went with yellow, I decided on orange and yellow.

Posse #1) See the sketch above. I was pretty literal with it (as I usually am), except for spreading out the little flowers along the bottom instead of grouping them.

TSG59) This is my first time participating in a TSG challenge! And yes, those are TSG stamps on the card. :-) I actually bought them last year and (shh . . . ) hadn't inked them up yet. (Aren't they cute?) Their challenge was to wear, tear and distress the heck out of our creation. And boy did I. I ink edges a lot, but I don't often wear & tear and let me tell you, I got a lot of aggression out with my sandpaper and Heidi Swapp distressing tool! I really like how it looks, and I think I will be "super distressing" again soon! (That sounds funny, lol.)

So, after all that, what am I left with? A birthday card for a friend in August. Yes, way ahead of time, but the card just looks like her, you know? I hope when August rolls around, I remember where I stashed the card!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Whoa--judging by the noise outside my window, the Lakers must have just won the NBA championship. Woo. Hoo. (Can you tell I'm not a pro basketball fan, LOL!) Today I'm playing along with the nice bunch at Papertrey Paper Dolls and their 8th challenge, a color challenge. When I saw the colors I thought: Wow, I *never* would have put those three colors all together. Now THAT'S a challenge, way out of my comfort zone. You know what? I ended up loving the combo. I used it for my dad's Father's Day card, and I think it looks even a little bit . . . sophisticated? Not the card necessarily, but the colors. I think my dad'll . . . well, he'll compliment the card and then it will go live in his sock drawer with all the others . . . but I mean, I could write "Happy FD" on a paper bag and he'd treasure it, but I'll know that this year, he gets a cool card! :-) (Please forgive atrocious punctuation. Thank you.) Thanks Lee Anne, for pushing me to stretch my boundaries this week!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

It's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge time again, and here I am just under the wire! This is Maisie Christine--Maisie ("pearl" in Scottish Gaelic I'm told)--because she was mostly pearl gray, and Christine--because her type of poodle coloring is called "phantom." Ba dump dum. :-D Sweet Maisie passed away in 2007, her ashes are in a lovely container in a place of honor on my bookcase and . . . it's 2010 and I still hadn't made a tag for the container! It's literally been on my to do list for three years. When I saw this week's WMS sketch challenge sketch, I immediately thought of the tag and decided it was just right for the project. The ribbon on her urn is burgundy, so I went with that and kraft. I stamped a WMS tag frame in burgundy and embossed with crystal embossing powder. (It's from a Christmas stamp set--just goes to show you how versatile WM stamps are!) I stamped a matching flower from the same stamp set in watermark ink and also embossed. I embossed the burgundy strip with my cuttlebug, and rubbed burgundy ink over the raised image. I distress inked the heck out of the various papers, and added teeny borealis crystals on some of the upper right and lower left flowers. Lastly, I put a bow of sheer ribbon over the hole through which I will thread the ribbon on Maisie's urn. I am so glad I now have something special with which to honor my sweet girl!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

This is a birthday card for a friend for later this month. It's admittedly not the most sophisticated card, but my friend will appreciated it--she LOVES lavender, and will get a kick out of the sentiment (another Skipping Stones Design set)! Nothing tricky about it--paper pieced hare, hole punch for the ribbon top and bottom, and yes, that is stitching along the bottom--you can tell I did it because it's crooked! Oh, well, I'll just insist that it's charming! :-) Oh, and I used PTI's new Sunshine impression plate--I am loving it!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Today, I'm participating in Waltzingmouse Stamps' first sketch challenge! Waltzingmouse Stamps is a company from Ireland (as many of you know), with some sweet and exciting stamps with a unique flair. I had long coveted some, but held off because the international shipping price would have limited me to a set or two, and I can't order just a set or two! Well, I can but I didn't want to. :-> So then, for her first year anniversary, Claire, the owner, had a FREE shipping special, even internationally! I still couldn't go crazy-crazy, so I just went a little crazy. And then some volcano in Iceland erupted and . . . well, you know how that was. But, I did get my stamps (great quality, IMHO), and I finally inked a few up for WMS's first sketch challenge! Sorry about the "casual" picture, LOL, but I wanted to get it up before bed tonight. I really enjoyed working with the stamps--for this little card (3.5x3.5) the circle of leaves and the background stamp on the kraft base (click on the picture and you should be able to see it) are from WMS. The green paper is PTI's new Simply Chartreuse (love it), as is the button. However, so is the ink used to stamp the leaf circle, as as you can see, it's a completely different color. I now know what folks mean on the PTI forum when they have complained about this. I must have lucked out because my Hawaiian Shores is a good match, but the "mismatch bug" finally bit me with Simply Chartreuse ink. I'll need to find a match somewhere else. Any suggestions? Oh, the PP behind the circle looks like it has green splotches on it, but it's actually a leaf print. Someday I will take better pictures and not feel like I have to explain these things! Thanks for dropping by!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Today's card is one I made for Amy R's Friday Sketch at Prairie Paper & Ink. Hers is one of the blogs I like to follow, and this sketch was similar to an idea I had in my head for my friend's birthday--a group of us always get together for birthdays and only funny cards are allowed!--so I decided to use the sketch to guide me. I first saw Skipping Stones Design on Jackie Pedro's blog. Boy do they have some great funny stamp sets! (Stay tuned for another one in a few days.) I paper pieced Prince Charming, and used Smooch to give him a gold crown. Otherwise, it's just paper, ribbon and teeny tiny rhinestones. Oh, and a gold glitter button. Don't want to forget that. :-D Update: My mom is still in the hospital, but continues to recover. Your prayers and well-wishes have been much appreciated, THANK YOU! (Hug)